No, Tanis Isn't Real

Telling the truth when PNWS won't. Questions? Need to know if something in a PNWS show is real? Askbox always open!

[istanisreal]

I've been trying to figure out who voices Simon Reese in TBT for a good year now. Do you know who it is?

I’m not 100% convinced on this one and need to do some more listening for comparison, but the general consensus seems to be that it’s the same guy who voices Cult of Tanis Paul (James Tyce). He’s putting on a different voice for Simon but you can hear a similar kind of burr in it.

Ok, I did go do trim out some audio from Simon and Paul to compare and I take it back, I don’t think Tyce plays Simon. So Simon Reese is still a mystery for now. I’ll keep digging into it.

FURTHER UPDATE: I think I found him! Jason Beaudoin.

[istanisreal]

Who plays the intern in The Black Tapes?

GREAT QUESTION.

I’m actually not sure. There’s so little audio of them that it’s hard to make a voice match, but I don’t actually think they’re an actor like the rest of the cast. I think -- I think -- the situation is this: the intern is actually just some poor rando who answered the job posting PNWS made a while back (oh wow I can’t believe that link is still live, I would have thought they’d take it down, archived here if they do) and drank allllll the koolaid when they got hired.

[istanisreal]

The cabin in Russia in Tanis; is that based on anything real?

TBH I’m not 100% sure what you’re referring to. Do you mean the one on legs? That’s from actual Russian folklore about the Baba Yaga.

If that’s not what you meant, you’ll have to refresh my memory, sorry (episode # would be helpful).

[istanisreal]

Yo, will you be covering RABBITS as well as TANIS and The Black Tapes? RABBITS' explanation of what an ARG is made me laugh because it was basically a description of how PNWS and PRA run their podcasts

I’m open to requests about Rabbits but probably won’t be going out of my way to debunk all of it, since it’s about a game (albeit a fictional one, not an actual ARG that ever happened) and not a “real” mythical place or “real” paranormal events.

It is already guilty of some of the same kind of story-lifting as Tanis, though. For example, Byron Preiss was a real guy who really did write a puzzle/treasure hunt book called The Secret which does in fact remain mostly unsolved.

But some of the stuff, like verifying the existence/release of the old arcade games, is kind of…eh, who gives a shit. It doesn’t even actually connect to the story anyway.

It’s also going to be harder to puzzle out things like who the actors are since, unlike Tanis & TBTP, it doesn’t have a handy Credits/About page with a long list of names of people involved. (Yet?)

[istanisreal]

So is this page just for telling what's based on a real story and what's completely made up for the podcast? That's actually really cool. I've been wondering which stories might have some truth behind them.

Yep, that’s what I’m here for! I let the blog languish for a bit because a) it didn’t seem like that much new stuff was coming out to be debunked (like, obviously Nikola Tesla is real), and b) apparently tumblr wasn’t telling me I had askbox messages to be responded to.

[istanisreal]

I don't know if this is still running but is the rabbits game real?

Not even a little bit. It’s completely made up for the purposes of their story. It doesn’t even really work the way actual ARGs work.

[istanisreal]

Do people actually think the show is "real"? It's an interesting and entertaining listen, but it's clearly fiction. People must see that.

I’ve seen posts from a number of people who, at the very least, start out being concerned that Black Tapes or Tanis are real. If they can google “is tanis real” and see this blog/site in the results, there’s their quick & easy answer.

Remember: 18% of Americans believe they, personally, have seen a ghost. Trump still has a 39% job approval rating. People believe all kinds of things.

There are also the people who don’t know/realize how much of the story is made up by the writers and how much is simply lifted from existing stories (to wit: A LOT).

[istanisreal]

I kno this may seem silly, but ty for existing. I have a hard time telling truth from fiction sometimes which is really distressing, and pages like these make it easy ro enjoy these podcasts without worrying about falling into delusions

I’m glad this helps! Given the current political climate I decided it was important to make sure there are resources to help people figure out where the line between fiction and reality actually lies.

[istanisreal]

HEY SO I just noticed I have a number of messages in my inbox here which Tumblr did not bother to tell me about! THANKS TUMBLR YOU’RE THE GREATEST.

Everyone who sent me an ask: sorry about that, I’ll work my way through these ASAP!

[istanisreal]

Who’s who in the Tanis cast?

Nic Silver: Terry Miles

MK: Kristine Cofsky

Geoff van Sant: Casey Manderson

Cult of Tanis Paul: James Tyce

Cameron Ellis: ???

Veronika Pillman/Melanie Nedved/etc: Andrea Stefancikova

Nate Carter: ???

Alex Reagan: Lori Henry

If anyone has any theories for Ellis or Carter (or requests for other main/recurring characters), send ‘em my way so I can look into it.

[antigonefunns]

that one monk on the black tapes who got so desperate he prayed to satan the night before his project was due is honestly the most relatable character in any work of fiction ever

[lord-starquaad]

He’s relatable but

That wasn’t made up for The Black Tapes

[istanisreal]

Did William Blake really name-drop Tanis?

No.

In episode 1, Terry Nic claims that an unfinished work by William Blake called Songs of Sorrow was discovered long after Blake’s death, and that it contains at least one reference to Tanis by name -- the quote you can read on the tanispodcast.com home page, in fact (Tanis, from the heat and fire / from the sand and spire...).

The truth is that no such work exists. Songs of Sorrow and its Tanis references are entirely made up by Terry Miles. Another listener investigated this particular bit of fiction more exhaustively back in 2015, even consulting an expert Blake scholar to be sure, but you can get reach the same conclusion with a little common sense and some Googling.

[istanisreal]

Are severed feet really washing up on PNW beaches?

Actually, yes.

That said, the truth is more tragedy than mystery, as is also the case with some of the other Tanis stories.

Wikipedia maintains a list of the feet that have washed up. The identified victims thus far:

a missing man suffering from depression 

a woman who jumped from a bridge

a man who was reported missing & died of natural causes

a local fisherman who went missing in 1987, no foul play suspected

you get the picture

Like, we’re not talking about a vast conspiracy here. It’s odd, statistically speaking, that so many feet have washed up over the years, but there’s also the fact that this has been a Thing now for 9 years, which makes people more likely to be on the lookout for additional data points.

[istanisreal]

are you going to cover the severed feet "mystery"?

Can do! Look for it later today or tomorrow.

[istanisreal]

Is TeslaNova Real?

No.

The TeslaNova Corporation is fictional, as is the related “Parzavala Communications.” The TeslaNova website is a shell set up by the creators of the Tanis & Black Tapes podcasts.

[istanisreal]

Is PNWS Real?

Yes and no.

Despite what its website may claim, “Pacific Northwest Stories” was never a real terrestrial radio company. Producers Terry Miles and Paul Bae are real people who produce the fictional Black Tapes and Tanis podcasts under the general PNWS umbrella; other PNWS “employees” such as Nic Silver and Alex Reagan are fictional.

[istanisreal]

Is The Black Tapes Podcast Real?

No.

Alex Reagan, Richard (and Coralee and Charlie) Strand, Nic Silver, Amalia Chenkova, etc are all fictional characters. Like Tanis, Black Tapes references a number of people, places, and events that exist in the real world; however, the characters and plot of the show are fictional.